KZN fishing in serious trouble

[Roryf]

I grew up on the South Coast and have spearfished and fished the mid to lower South Coast for many years.I agree there are not as many fish as there used to be.

I do believe that there are a number of problems.The silting up of estuaries is a big problem as these are the nurseries but I think the biggest problem is mans greed.I have seen with my own eyes the greed of commercials,recreationals and recrommecials.

I would like to know of how many of us have never 'bent' the fishery laws to suit ourselves,yes that small shad for live bait or that slightly undersize fish.When last did you tell your fishing partner to not break the law.If you are watching you are just as guilty.We are our own worst enemies.

We are very quick to complain but are not very good about doing anything about it.How many of the complainers have offered to join the Parks Board to become Honoury Officers and help with permit and catch checks?Most of the Honoury guys in the Scottburgh area are 60 years old plus. How many of you have called the Parks Board when you have seen people breaking the law?

When last did you help with cleaning your local river?

Sorry for the rant but there is stuff we can do, but most of us,me included don't have 'time' or don't care enough to do anything.

I also think that certain species have good and bad years.The Natal snoek run for the last 2 years has been quite good and the shad run this year was fairly good too.

My 2c worth

Funny enough this year has been one of my best years for the number and size of fish that I have shot.

[Andre Laas]

Guys, this is a tough subject and I would like to provide my input. This is my personal opinions and views, supported by some biological background, and I may well be wrong about some things.

The Problems
The main problems in my opinion are:
1)Mal practices in our river catchment areas have destroyed the natural functioning of these systems.
2)The custodianship of our coastal resources is too vaguely defined, leaving lots of space for blame shifting and lack of performance.
3)Unscrupulous anglers have, and are still decimating the little bit that is left.
4)Shark nets.

To expand on each of these points

1.   The river systems that feed into our ocean have in the past performed a multitude of functions that ensured a health coastal fish population. One of the best-known and most obvious functions of active, open, river mouths was to provide a relatively safe and protected breeding area for juvenile marine fish. The juvenile fish and fish larvae had a much better chance of reaching adulthood under the conditions provided by these systems. Another important function (often overlooked) of river mouths was also the introduction of a rich bounty of food and nutrient resources. They served as a refuge and breeding space for a great variety of crustaceans and other invertebrates that not only fed the juvenile fish, but sustained a variety of predatory fish. The rivers washed down loads if vital nutrients in the form of fresh and decayed plant material, animal rests dissolved macro- and micro-nutrients etc. All of these nutrient sources played a role in the maintenance of the food chain that flourished before human mal-practices (I firmly believe that humans have a rightful place in the environment and food chain….if they use natural resources instead of abusing it).
Thus, with the silting up of the river mouths, the ocean food chain not only loses breeding space, but also loads and loads of essential nutrients. Without the abundance of nutrients, the coastal areas can sustain much smaller fish populations as the competition for nutrients becomes more important than competition for re-production.
The silting up of the rivers is not only due to surface runoff resulting from poor farming practices and land management, but is also a result of excessive water extraction for residential, agricultural and industrial use. Obviously, the more water is abstracted from the system before it reaches the ocean, the slower the water will flow. Under normal river flow rates, the water would have provided silt particles (from surface runoff) with enough momentum to wash all the way down to the ocean, where the currents and wave action would have dispersed it, thus no siltation problems. However, with the reduced flow rates, more and more silt particles settle to the bottom long before it can reach the ocean. Over time, the build-up of silt will result in shallower river basins. The result is that the water disperses over a bigger area, and the river channels disappear, leaving these large flat, sandy riverbeds where once mighty rivers flowed to the sea, and of course, where the water slows down on the beach, the last bits of sediments are deposited, creating the banks that cut of the river mouths.
Unfortunately, just bulldozing the river mouths open, will be a continuous, expensive and rather futile exercise, as the problems originates much higher up in the catchment. The only way would be to fix these systems all the way from source to sea…. Something that will take decades…if it is not too late.

2.   The custodianship of our coastal resources if too vaguely defined. (I am no politician, and do not aspire to ever be one, so I may be over-stepping some lines here…..and it ain’t fishing lines!). Here I am not talking about research institutions like ORI and the likes, I am referring to the decision-making and governing bodies. Marine and Coastal management was (as far as my understanding goes) supposed to be the National Custodians of all ocean resources in South Africa. This is all well and goods, but to my knowledge, the entire M&CM unit is concentrated in Cape Town…. Which results in pretty poor coverage of the South African coastal zone. In the KZN coastal region, the management of our coastal resources falls under KZN wildlife, but is still governed by M&CM. This is where the blame shifting etc comes in whilst in the meantime the environment takes the knocks. Before I get into trouble, and because I am not too clued up on how exactly this whole system works, I will end by saying that we are in desperate need of a official (government supported) governing body with the full mandate to manage all coastal resources specific to KZN (I am going specifically with KZN as this is what the topic is about). Coupled to this, is the fact that there is far too little research going on. The current research teams are under-staffed and severely under-funded, and it cannot be expected of them to deliver much more outputs. 
3.   Unscrupulous anglers are destroying whatever is left and remotely edible. Please do not make this a cultural/racial issue, as this is not my intention by this. One big problems here is anglers that catches fish for the sole purpose of selling them, which is of course illegal. These guys feel nothing for the stock status of any species, and simply take anything of any size that will get him a couple of Rands. They are very often people driving expensive vehicles, and fishing with top end gear, and are definitely not doing this for survival. In fact, you can clearly see which guys are really doing it for survival, and their gear generally do not enable them to do significant damage to fish populations! Another major problem is anglers specifically targeting smaller fish (nothing wrong in principle, as they are sometimes all thats left to target and provide some fun on light tackle) but then taking all fish out, irrespective of size or bag limits. The problem is that many of these are not small fish species, but are juvenile fish that now hangs out around the rocks, as they no longer have the safety of the rivers to grow up in. By removing all the small fish…. the natural food source that brought the predators inshore are removed, leaving the bigger fish with not much reason to come inshore in any great numbers. One possible example is the fact that the ski and boat anglers are getting loads of shad at the shark-nets, and other bait spots, while at the same time, surf anglers battle to find a single shad…… Fish will go where the food is.. and if the food is no longer in the surfzone… neither will they be!
4.   Lastly, the Shark-nets. This is a difficult one, but I for one agree that they can influence the food chain in the surfzone and I fully agree that the constant use of shark “interventions” is outdated, and causing more harm than good.

[Andre Laas]

Sorry for the long rant...  tomorrow I will share what I think may help a little bit

[Ziggy]

All nicely put critter! And I agree with all that you say...only factor that you did not deal with is pollution  - like the Umgeni river, Durban harbour for example and Saiccor at Umkomaas sending out stuff way into the reefs.

Do you have any data/reserach on the impact of pollution?

[Tommo]

Some good points there guys.

Just as a matter of interest KZN Wildlife Honorary officers have exactly zero powers of arrest. They also are not allowed (legally) to ask for someone to show their permit. They have no powers at all. The best they can do is report in when they see something and the KZN Official has to come and deal with the issue. Which makes the Honorary Officer no more empowered than any of us.
I checked this with our local KZN Wildlife guy, as I was happy to volunteer my services as an honorary officer, but decided what the hell, I can report things in as it is.

[Ziggy]

Reefman - it was so "lunchbar" of you to move the topic to the right forum! Thanks for keeping us in line

[Roryf]

Some good points there guys.

Just as a matter of interest KZN Wildlife Honorary officers have exactly zero powers of arrest. They also are not allowed (legally) to ask for someone to show their permit. They have no powers at all. The best they can do is report in when they see something and the KZN Official has to come and deal with the issue. Which makes the Honorary Officer no more empowered than any of us.
I checked this with our local KZN Wildlife guy, as I was happy to volunteer my services as an honorary officer, but decided what the hell, I can report things in as it is.

This is true Tommo,but there are things that Honorary guys can do.KZN Wildlife in our area, Park Rynie, have just taken on a skipper to help with launching their duck to police further out to sea.The 60year old plus guys can't push the boat and I am sure the skipper would have a serious problem with launching with some of them.Here is were the Honorary helpers come in.I know some of the Honorary guys do help with busts and checks - safety in numbers.

They have already started catching guys breaking the law and like Critter said it is often the guys that don't need the money.Hopefully with a better presence in our area things will start changing for the better.I know that if I see stuff going on I certainly report to the anti poaching line and have seen guys get arrested.

Look forward to meeting you on the beach some day,maybe when the bridge get fixed!

Tight lines.

[Andre Laas]

All nicely put critter! And I agree with all that you say...only factor that you did not deal with is pollution  - like the Umgeni river, Durban harbour for example and Saiccor at Umkomaas sending out stuff way into the reefs.

Do you have any data/reserach on the impact of pollution?

Sheez.... huge oversight from my side.....
Will put some ideas together and post them a bit later...

[Willie]

Following is a reply I recieved from The Oceanographic Researh Institute;

Hi Willie,

You have certainly asked a very difficult question! There are many factors which are believed to contribute to the state of our marine resources. The state of our rivers is only one such problem. The biggest reason, which seems the most difficult to accept is that of over-fishing. The sea’s resources are capable of renewal, under moderate exploitation. However, in most cases, fish are being removed at a faster rate than breeding stock can supply. Furthermore, it is mostly larger fish (with high reproductive capacity) that are sought after by fishermen. Removal of these fish slows down reproduction further. Numerous studies worldwide have shown that over-fishing has diminished the sea’s resources and its capability for renewal.

Bag limits and minimum sizes help but we have unlimited fishermen. Catch and release is one way of ensuring that you can enjoy catching the same fish multiple times but great care should be taken when handling fish; they are not as tough as we think. Other studies have shown that many fish which are released may die from being roughly handled or are eaten by predators. Using circle hooks and removing barbs is a fantastic way of reducing harm to fish. Circle hooks, if large enough, nearly always hook fish in the mouth and not in the gills or stomach. If hooked in the stomach with a barbless hook, the line can be cut leaving the hook behind. We have noticed that these hooks pass right through the fish. Trying to remove a hook from a fish’s stomach almost always kills the fish. Hooks do not rust quickly, contrary to popular belief. Hooks only rust quickly if they are removed from salt water and left in air. Water contains little air and slows down the rusting process. Marine protected areas are a way of protecting breeding stock, which can supply adjacent areas with adults and juveniles. Supporting these areas is a good way to ensure their long-term success.

If you are interested, I suggest that you read a book called “An unnatural history of the sea” by Professor Callum Roberts. It gives a very interesting account of how the sea has been fished before thousands of years.

Best regards,
Jade Maggs

[Adrian B]

Hi Guys

No doubt the situation is a mess and some of the things like KZN’s estuaries are beyond repair but we need to focus on what can be done. The days of expecting MCM to implement effective or even fair measures are long gone. Science and common sense have left the building and replaced with greed and money as the motivating factor.

I often look at these forums and I see a lot of whinging and not much action. If every angler who complained on fishing forums took the time just to do the some of following we might see a difference:

•Pick up litter on the rocks or beaches even if it’s not yours
•Limit your catch don’t catch your limit
•Educate other anglers on the rocks about bag limits why they  exist etc (not  easy in the shad run in KZN I agree) pick your moments
•Put pressure on your local retailers not to sell threatened or over fished species (see the SASSI red and orange list www.wwfsassi.co.za) – don’t be scared to take aggressive action
•If you belong to a club, make sure you and your club is walking the talk
•Report poaching or transgressions
•Become the bulldog in your back yard – don’t tolerate nonsense, if everybody looked after their marine back yard we wouldn’t find ourselves in the situation we in today

Apathy and doing nothing make you part of the problem, not the solution.

[Watermark]

This topic is obviously very close to all our hearts and problems identified are probably spot on the money. However the solutions preferred lack one vital ingredient. The ability to police the proposed solutions if implemented.

I lived in the States for a number of years where there is something like 1 law enforcement officer (cop, fed, fish and game) for every 7000 people where our ratio is 1 for every 70 000. While I was there, we obviously did a lot of fishing on the rivers and off the Florida panhandle but two particular incidents come to mind in respect of policing the fisheries which I might add are in pristine condition.

Fishing out of Mobile, I caught a yellow belly rock cod that would have fed a small African village. I had the first fish until the skipper of the charter removed the hook held it against the ice chest and unceremoniously tossed it back into the sea. I was gobsmacked. When I protested that this was not meant to be a catch and release trip he said “sorry sonny, too small and there is a $1000 (2003) fine if the Dept of Fish and Game find undersized fish on the boat”. We went on to catch even bigger rock cod and grouper and I am proud to say that once we had enough for the pot we released dozens of really big bottoms.

In another incident, on the Yuba river California, in an area demarcated for barbless fly fishing only, I watched a local get arrested for fishing with spinners. He was literally 30 feet  upstream of a bridge that demarcated the cut off point for his style (spinners) of trout fishing. A separate area was allocated for bait fishing. He was fined $250 and his tackle confiscated until the fine was paid. In terms of the law, Americans are (in my view ) very conscientious. Simply because if you contravene the rules of the fishery there will be consequences.

South Africans are far too complacent when it comes to the law because there is no enforcement.

I strongly believe that if the farmers were fined for allowing topsoil to wash into the rivers, if the bag limits were monitored and under sized catches punished, if the waters were properly patrolled and illegal fishing vessels impounded,  all with consequences, we would be able to turn the fishing around on the KZN coast.

Similarly, proper policing of the fisheries in Mozambique would have a remarkable effect on their tourism and economy. Sadly, the unscrupulous gill netting along the reefs at Barra, Coconut, Pandaine and the like will soon leave that coast raped of its attraction to divers and anglers.

Finally a point on Richards Bay, it is my understanding that the dredging of the harbour needs to be studied with a little more due diligence. I am told that the discarded silt is not being dumped far enough off shore. Consequently all that silt is drifting up the coast and blocking the St. Lucia estuary which was one of the primary breeding grounds for fish on out coast line.  All St. Lucia is good for now is crocodile watching where 30 years ago it was the top angling spot in KZN.

[G!enn]

I strongly believe that if the farmers were fined for allowing topsoil to wash into the rivers, if the bag limits were monitored and under sized catches punished, if the waters were properly patrolled and illegal fishing vessels impounded,  all with consequences, we
would be able to turn the fishing around on the KZN coast.

I think this is a fab idea and would work VERY well .. But the unfortunate thing is the downfall of everything as you know it .. This brings more and more people to the waters that will eat what they catch no matter what size, because these poor okes are starving. It makes one really sad.

[G!enn]

Finally a point on Richards Bay, it is my understanding that the dredging of the harbour needs to be studied with a little more due diligence. I am told that the discarded silt is not being dumped far enough off shore. Consequently all that silt is drifting up the coast and blocking the St. Lucia estuary which was one of the primary breeding grounds for fish on out coast line.  All St. Lucia is good for now is crocodile watching where 30 years ago it was the top angling spot in KZN.

This makes me made to see in Richards Bay  .. My fav place on earth St.Lucia.. Been there 3 years in a row now, and every year the dunnes and sand make more of a distance from estuary to see.. Is there any way of not trying to re open the mouth again? I see the dredger there disused.. surely they can makes things the same again over a period of time?

your right about the crocs.. I put a float on my bait sometimes now, because of the crocs.

[Fishton]

I would love to imagine that I can make a difference in the way others behave (farmers, commercial anglers, government officials handing out commercial licenses, catch and release, recycling of litter and the management thereof, etc.) but that unfortunately is a pipe dream.

I can however change the way I do things to ensure that the fish I catch remain alive, healthy and grow up to be big breeders of their species.

This is what's on MY list -

1. When I feel like eating fish, I will go to John Dories, they know how to prepare it.
2. No stainless hooks
3. No ripping big fish up from the bottom and releasing them only to bob around the surface until they die.
4. Light tackle is for fish under 5kg's, not for big fish that you have to fight for ages and release on the brink of death that just sink to the bottom and die anyway.
5. Spear and Release, oh hang on - that doesn't work so well. 

[Adrian B]

I see lots of ideas and comments all in the right direction but not a tangible list of objectives. Some times you got to start small. Elephants are eaten one bite at a time.

Why not draft a short list of reasonably ambitious but achievable objects that could make a difference even if small. See the Shelly beach ski-boat club is pushing hard to ban chumming and bottom fishing on the Protea Banks. Idea is to only allow lure fishing on the banks.
May not seem that significant but if you have fished in Protea Banks Circus which is on display when ever the weather is good and seen the number of boats operating there on any given day you will realise that if they pull this off what a big achievement it will be.

Five suggestions:
•   Push for a "no take what so ever" MPA even if small KZN clubs can push this and manage this - even it is just your clubs “house reef”

•   Adopt 1 estuary and see if we can convince the land owners up stream to not grow cane right up to the edge, clean up sources of pollution and push for catch and release fishing only

•   Push the Sharks board to remove more netting - they have quite a bit over the years but since  the Aliwal Shoal area is a semi MPA (think it’s from Umgababa to Green point) why not push for the nets to be pulled out inshore

•   Pressure KZN fish retailers to participate with SASSI and not to stock or trade with "red listed" species

•   Push / lobby for better protection of our overfished slow growing endemic reef fish – push clubs to implement “gentleman’s” rules. No boated Black Muscle Cracker under 10kg as an example

These initiatives don’t need a committee organising bodies, just a couple of guys to allocate a hour of their day to the cause and some stratergy.

[CASTSA]

Its a sad realisation, if something is not done NOW our future is looking scary....
 
Just as an example, just a one, when I was traveling South America we had amazing fishing, with rich exotic estuaries and brilliant catches off the beach and boat, in so many areas BUT when we came across an area that the river systems had perished the immediate area was like the mediteranian sea, empty and dead......if you saw a few tiny fish while diving it was alot......In some cases these rivers had a huge past being powerful and strong, photos from locals proved the amazing life that lived in the area....Birds, fish, animals etc
 
Being a fisherman, you want to catch fish, and after not doing so you start asking questions and sfter speaking to many of the locals they all said the same thing in every case, once the river became poor and non functional so did the surrounding eco-systems........
 
It is so serious,
 
I did speak to a gentleman from Government at Ilembe District to try and make an introduction and hopefully there might be some way of driving talks with the cane owners. I dont know, Hopefully something comes from it.
 
After all, recreational angling contributeshugely to our country and we should have the backing to do something about this.......
 
 

[CASTSA]

Please excuse grammar.......................................making traces and typing with serious attitude !!
 
 

[MichaelK]

Tommo i totally agree with what you have mentioned, further to that what riles me to no end is the total disregard for marine life and the over exploitation thereof by local inhabitants between hibberdene and Mtwalume. I travel between Durban and Port Shepstone daily and witness hundreds of shad and crayfish being sold on the road side daily. I've reported this to the authorities and nothing is done about it.
 
Unfortunately the blame can not only be placed on the commercial farmers for the soil erosion into our river systems. Local foot paths chanel water that runs down into our rivers dumping soil into the rivers. Over time these become huge dongas that expel massive amounts of top soil. Rural farming inveriably is done alongside river banks for irrigation purposes, poor farming techniques result in massive soil erosion.
 
Dredging up the river beds to deepen them is also a major environmental no no as it kills fauna and flora.
 
Currently the Department of Environmental Affairs has taken on the large number of sand winning companies (mining) in the Umzumkulu river . They are all mining around the batsons drift area.
 
Also although we may all have good intentions and want a positive out come, the truth of the matter is that inorder for anything to materialize we need to consult with Government and have Government change the indigenous rural peoples farming and conservation behaviour by developing legislation, policies or guidelines. Then have a government Dept implement and monitor.
 
Knowing our government this will never happen

[Jordz]

I agree someting needs to be done in order for the Fishing in KZN to be turrned around. One of the areas that i feel that many people overlook is the overfishing that goes on. Shad season comes and it is not impossible for One fisherman to take home as many as 40 Shad a day. Law is 4 on you at any one time not 4 a day. The guys that fish for Kob and take home up to 10 fish when the Limit is 1. This is also a serious problem that needs to be overcome. We need to ask ourselves how long can we carry on rapping he sea and expect nothing to happen. Before we start to petition farmers to change their practices we need to get all fishermen o be on the same page.

[Weedeater]

Tommo, I agree with you 100%. I grew up fishing the south coast. I returned to DBN in JAn this year and the only fish that I have caught are shad. Even the blacktails and other resident fish have dissapeared.

No rockcod, stumpies,etc.

Something is seriously not lekker. Even the sharks that you once caught at toti and scotsbburgh are no longer. I fished errol hayes last weekend, two fresh baits on slide out ofr 2hrs each  and bait came back untouched, not even peckers. Scratched around for edibles, nothing!

Looks like im gonna have to start fishing the ballito area in future cause the south coast is a graveyard. With so much of reef and rock structure, its hard to acept that most of the fish have dissapeared. The reason you mentioned are most probably the cause of this problem.

+1. I had the same experience when I was down at the south coast this past month.
I've been fishing the lower south-coast for the past 27+ years and have seen the steady decline in the fishing on the south coast as a whole. I slid a bait at a very promising beach spot this past trip, also came back untouched after 2 hours out. In fact of the 10 days I was there, only 3 fish came out, two of which were mine.


I just get the feeling the war has been lost and there is nothing we can do about it.